Percy Jackson and the Wandering Beginning
by Tidustide
Summary: Set after TLO, Percy and Annabeth have their 33rd date. Unfortunately, a certain fury tells them to return to camp. For once, even Mr D is interested. What's that supposed to mean? New quest, new adventure and of course, everyone's fav, PERCABETH
1. Our 33rd date is interrupted by my forme

**Our 33****rd**** date is interrupted by the arrival of my former maths teacher**

Nothing beats a good, fine day with cheese enchiladas (Grover's work) and a double cheeseburger in front of the Parthenon in Nashville with an architecture crazed girl. It was Annabeth's idea since she'd always wanted to visit the Parthenon in Greece but since we couldn't exactly fly over there yet (I was still praying to my dad about it, asking him to convince Zeus to let us go without incinerating me). And plus, it was our thirty third date. See, a few months ago, Annabeth and I- well, Annabeth threatened me to- agree that we'd meet somewhere… special, I guess on our thirty third date. She got the weirdest idea that since three was a sacred number, she'd double our luck by making it thirty three. I guess it's a girl thing, go figure. Anyway, there we were, stuffing ourselves… I mean, _I _was stuffing myself with cheese enchiladas while Annabeth blabbed on about facades and elevation and all that stuff that made my head hurt. So naturally, I pretended to understand and enjoyed our picnic lunch- which wasn't much I'm telling you, but being with Annabeth made it worthwhile. I stared at her while she talked, just happy to be with her and bear her long talk about architecture. After the huge battle with Kronos and his army of monsters and Luke's death, Annabeth and I had grown a lot closer than I'd expected. With her I felt… comfortable. I had tried to explain this to my mom the other day and she wasn't much help: all she did was smile that annoying smile- that all-knowing sly smile- like she knew it was going to happen one way or another. Of course, she was over the moon about it. Gods, it was embarrassing! Busy thinking about how embarrassing my mom was going to be when I came back home with Annabeth, I didn't notice that my girlfriend was snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Um, Percy? Helloo?"

When I finally snapped out of it she cocked an eyebrow, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Huh? What?"

Her lips twitched. "It's our thirty third date and you're sitting there looking like you've got the burden of the world on your shoulders."

"I do?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "You know, sometimes I wonder how I fell for a seaweed brain like you, let alone become friends with one." I would have taken this to heart, if it wasn't for the fondness I detected in her voice.

"Aw, come on, what's not to like about me?" I said, grinning.

Annabeth pretended to puke. "Your sense of self importance, for one thing."

I shrugged, smiling.

"Come on, let's go back to the resort Wise Girl," I said, standing up. I held out my hand.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and took my hand… only to stumble back and fall. I stood there cracking up while she glared at me.

"Ow! What in Zeus' name did you do that for?"

"S-sorry… but… you looked… haha," I said between shaking fits of laughter.

"Whatever, urgh. Percy you are _so_ immature," she said, getting up. "Let's go."

Still chuckling, I headed for the red Ford Verve Sedan parked ahead- my pride and joy. I grinned widely when I saw it. Annabeth noticed my expression and rolled her eyes for the millionth time.

"Boys and their cars," she muttered.

"It's a guy thing," I said.

* * *

It just goes to show that good times don't last forever. Thankfully, bad things always happen a little later. Meanwhile, Annabeth and I returned to the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. We'd reserved two separate rooms… for obvious reasons (mostly because my mom threatened to split us apart if we didn't). Honestly? It was awesome. Great gardens, great scenery, good food, you name it. And it was a good break from all that monster fighting. I came out after having a shower and found my bed already occupied by a beautiful woman checking her reflection in a mirror. The goddess Aphrodite.

"Uh…" I said stupidly.

"Ah at last! The Romeo of the century!" she said dazzling me with her smile.

"Um, Romeo of the century?"

"I _told _you didn't I? Such a successful romance story I just _have _to add to my collection!"

"Oh… yeah, we're together now." Then it suddenly dawned on me. "Hey! Wait a minute… you-"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Well of course I was the one who used Rachel to confuse your feelings. I did say I wasn't going to make it easy for you. Tut tut, and you kissed her once… hmm, I wonder what your girlfriend will do once she finds out."

The goddess of love assumed an expression of contemplation.

"No, uh… it's okay, I'd rather you didn't- let her find out I mean."

Aphrodite laughed. "Aw, you're so cute! Tell you what, I'll make this relationship a little more interesting for you… no, no, no, I'm not going to complicate it, don't worry. My favour, alright? I just dropped by to congratulate you on getting the girl. Well then, I have to go and keep Ares happy now. Good luck!" She waggled her fingers and disappeared in a shimmer of diamonds.

I blinked. What the heck? Her visits always confused me. I shook my head and got dressed and went to go stand outside Annabeth's room. It was then I heard the hissing. Habitually, I reached into my pocket for my pen. Then the hissing stopped. Thinking I'd probably imagined it, I relaxed. After a few minutes of waiting, the door opened and Annabeth came out, blond curls slightly damp. The smell of lemon soap drifted to my nose. I swallowed. Annabeth closed the door and locked it. I remembered the talk with Aphrodite and I felt my face grow hot. I swallowed. Annabeth looked up at me and frowned quizzically.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah… just fine. Why?" I asked, my voice a little hoarse.

"You look a bit tense…" she said, her voice trailing off. She looked like she suddenly realized something and a smile slowly spread across her face. Annabeth linked her arm with mine and pulled me along.

"Come on Seaweed Brain, let's go for that walk."

We didn't get very far. The atrium gardens were beautiful, but I kept hearing that hissing noise- and I figured it wasn't a hissy cat. Finally, I got annoyed.

"Where the heck is that hissing coming from?"

Annabeth stopped with me. She turned, wary. That was Annabeth, always on her guard. "Have you been hearing it as well?"

Then we heard a scream. Several people shrieked and started running away. I don't know what the mist made them see but what I saw was a nasty looking old lady that I didn't really want to or expect to see interrupting my thirty third date with Annabeth. My former maths teacher approached us, hissing and glaring at me with flaming eyes.

I gulped.

"This can't be good," I muttered.

"Wait, I don't think she's here to attack us," Annabeth said, frowning.

I was still aware that the fury had once tried to kill me before, but Annabeth's wisdom had saved us countless times in the past so I shut up.

Mrs Dodds stopped in front of me. "Percyyyy Jackssson." She glared at me with loathing.

"Lord Hades has sent me to give you a message: he requests your presence soon after your visit to camp- as sssssoon as possible. You are to return to camp half blood now."


	2. I'm beginning to hate prophecies

**I'm beginning to hate prophecies**

The good thing about going back to camp: no more freaky mummy like oracle to rasp out the lines of prophecies. The bad aspect: my date with Annabeth is cancelled. Ah well, I guess we had to expect that. But camp was the same as usual, with the usual greeting from Mr D, which was something like: "Perry Johansson, still alive?", a very warm greeting from Chiron and a hug from Rachel (Annabeth wasn't too happy about this). Camp seemed livelier than usual and basically, I loved it… except I had to act annoyed in front of Annabeth because of our interrupted date. Anyway, Tyson came back too, nearly crushing me to death. I was happy to see my baby brother, and there seemed to be _way_ more campers than the last time I visited. Heaps of people were lining up, waiting for the previous group to finish with the climbing wall, the mess hall was bursting with demigods, the armoury was louder than usual, satyrs chased dryads, the cabin building was completed and I felt like I'd just stepped into a small Greek town. There were definitely a_ lot_ more than three hundred half bloods. I felt good, I felt proud. This was where I belonged and that wannabe evil genius Kronos was somewhere far, far away. I breathed in the sweet scent of strawberry.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself already," said Annabeth, snorting.

"Well, it is camp," I replied simply.

"Yeah… I guess it's good to be back," she said grudgingly and looked at me.

I blushed. Okay, I thought I'd left behind the annoying blushing thing. Did she _have_ to have this affect on me? It was kinda getting irritating.

I grunted something really intelligible like: "Ughn."

We continued towards the Big House where Chiron was waiting for us. He trotted forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. He shook my hand.

"My, Percy! You have grown quite a bit!" And with a sort of mischievous smile he added, "And taller than Annabeth, I see."

"Yeah, finally," I said, grinning.

Annabeth smiled. "And it took him five years."

"Hey! Give my bones some credit," I said indignantly.

"Whatever, you're still the same Seaweed Brain."

Chiron cleared his throat. "Anyway, I called you two because there have been some disturbing reports from the satyrs. Come in and I will explain."

We followed him in and sat on the proffered chairs.

Chiron regarded us gravely. "Now, after the death of Pan, there have been a number of serious reports that we can longer ignore. We believed that all of the Wild places were gone. However…"

Annabeth and I waited expectantly.

"… there have been sightings of creatures and visions of the Wild."

Next to me, Annabeth sucked in her breath. I was surprised too, but, as usual, Annabeth seemed to grasp something I didn't.

"Now, as I understand," continued Chiron. "You, Annabeth, Grover, Tyson and Miss Dare all witnessed the death of Pan and received his blessing. He passed on the remainder of his spirit to you so you would spread the word. Apart from these reports of the Wild, there have been even more disturbing reports about various places around the world becoming desolate and barren: crops have begun to fail without explanation, tremors occur in the earth and the permafrost is slowly beginning to weaken. The mortals understand this to be the result of 'Global Warming', but we know better. The last Wild place is fading. I think… it is time… for a prophecy."

"Uh…" I began, and Annabeth and Chiron both looked at me. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but, isn't it supposed to fade? If, like, Pan's gone and everything, shouldn't it be natural?"

Annabeth and Chiron exchanged looks. I hate it when they do that.

"Percy, you're right, but since we carry on the spirit of Pan, it shouldn't be fading yet. It's supposed to fade and disappear completely when all hope is lost," Annabeth explained.

"Then doesn't that mean that all hope is lost?" I asked stupidly.

Annabeth didn't even bother to roll her eyes. She looked dead serious. Uh-oh.

"No, there still is. Which means that something has gone wrong."

"Well, duh."

"Just listen Percy. If my theory's correct, something or someone… has stolen the very core of the last Wild place."

Chiron nodded. "Annabeth may be right. I fear it may even be something more." He glanced at Annabeth. She looked troubled.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There might be followers of Kronos involved."

"Not again," I groaned.

"Whatever it is, I doubt very much that it is good. Now let us go get that prophecy from Miss Dare," said Chiron, sighing.

The three of us exited, walking past the volleyball courts and arts and crafts building. We came to the amphitheatre where everyone, all the demigods, had already gathered. Rachel came too. The demigods were all talking in hushed voices, excited about the gathering and wondering what the matter was. Some pointed to me.

"Hey, isn't that the dude who gave Luke the knife in the big war?"

"Yeah, I heard he owned that Hyper- what's- his- face."

"Hyperion."

"Yeah, him."

I tried not to feel too good about this, so I focused my attention on Rachel. Chiron raised a hand and everyone fell silent. A huge fart sounded. Several people giggled.

I sighed. The Stoll brothers again.

"Silence!" Chiron boomed. Woa, the guy could be pretty charismatic when he wanted to.

To Rachel, he nodded. "Oracle, what quest must the heroes embark on this time?"

For a while, nothing happened. Then a shudder racked her frame. Her head lolled on her shoulder and green mist quickly spread through the amphitheatre.

I guessed it was going to be a serious prophecy.

"_Five will set out to seek the nest_

_Two will continue to find the rest_

_The artist's wife shall aid and rise_

_The Wanderer's knife in paradise."_

Rachel stumbled and Annabeth caught her before she tripped.

A murmur ran through the crowd.

"The nest? What nest?" Someone said.

"Who's the artist?" said Jake Mason.

"And who the heck's the Wanderer?"

Chiron held up his hand again. "We have received a new prophecy!"

"Who will go?"

There was a scramble as everyone started coming down, saying, "I want to go!"

Poor Chiron looked overwhelmed as people mobbed us.

"Hey!" I yelled. Silence followed. Everyone stared at me.

I gulped. I was never any good at public speaking. "Uh… just calm down everyone. The right people will be chosen for this quest and it's up to fate. It has already been decided. So… will everyone just please return to their seats? Thank you."

Amazingly, the demigods did what I told them to.

Chiron nodded at me. "Thank you Percy. Now," he said turning to Rachel again.

"Will you choose the heroes?"

"Me?" asked Rachel, taken aback. "Uh… okay then."

She scanned the crowd. Then her gaze focused on a young half blood with curly black hair and blue eyes.

Rachel pointed at him.

Then she pointed at another: a petite girl with brown hair and grey eyes. A daughter of Athena.

I frowned. The girl looked pretty thin and weak (I mean, no offence to her but it's the truth), and the boy seemed a bit on the timid side. I was having doubts about this quest.

Rachel pointed at me, Annabeth and Tyson.

"Sorry G- Man," I whispered to grover.

He shrugged. "Well, it's time I got used to being a regular camper."

"The only thing I'm happy about is that the prophecy doesn't mention any deaths," I muttered to Annabeth.

She nodded, but seemed a bit zoned out. I waved my hand in front of her face.

"Annabeth?"

Annabeth suddenly turned to me. "We need Mr D."

She might as well have said _I need to step on Pegasus poo._

"Huh? What for?"

As if he knew we were talking about him, Mr D looked up from his newspaper. For once he looked grave. Then, noticing that I was watching him, he resumed his old bored expression. If Mr D was interested in this quest, it didn't bode well for our quest.


	3. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Okay, I've decided that I'm not going to upload further chapters until I'm satisfied with the reviews. I mean, seriously, I'm a busy person and I think I want to know what people think about it. I don't want to be spending my time on something that people don't appreciate. I don't care what people say- you can criticize it, say it's boring- I really DON'T MIND. But really, this is getting a little ridiculous. Fanfic readers are just reading and not commenting on it. As a writer, I would like your viewpoints! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!


	4. I meet the Boulder Man

**AN: Just wanted to thank the people who reviewed. Didn't expect so many! Lol. Anyway, answering a reviewer's question: I know the prophecy sounds a little strange but you'll get it later on in the story. And all the demigods met in the amphitheatre because they suspected it was a serious prophecy. Obviously, normally they didn't do it like that. **

**I meet the Boulder man**

Once again, we needed to go on _another_ dangerous quest- though all quests are dangerous, this one sounded pretty grave. But first, I had to obey a certain god's request. And I did _not_ want to get on his bad side…though I figured I had already to a certain extent. Either way, I was planning to descend to the Underworld again. One question nagged me: why would Hades request my presence when he so clearly hated my guts? Beats me. So, a little suspicious, I decided to bring the whole crew along- Annabeth, Tyson, Nathan Grey (turns out he's Dionysus' kid) and Amelia Burns (a daughter of Athena): just in case Hades decided to lock me up again. Besides, he never told me to come alone did he? Anyway, I was packing my stuff with Tyson in our cabin when he started asking me some embarrassing questions. Seriously, he was like mom number two, except younger and more kiddish.

"So Annabeth is your girlfriend now?"

He said it so matter-of-factly that I blushed. "Uh… yeah, she is."

"Does she love you?"

Outside I heard snickering. If I was right, those were eavesdroppers from the Aphrodite cabin. Oh gods, I had to stop this- somehow.  
"Uh, yeah, probably. Otherwise she wouldn't be my girlfriend would she?'

"Yay!" he said, clapping his hands together. "Then you will get married and have kids and I can play with them! Mini Percy's and mini Annabeths!"

"Oookaaaaay," was the only thing I could say.

I really didn't get Tyson sometimes.

Just then, someone knocked on the cabin door.

"Come in," I said, stuffing my jacket into the bag.

The door opened and Annabeth came in, her bag already packed.

"You guys finished?"

Tyson shook his head. "Percy is slow."

"Thanks for the support big guy."

"No problem," he replied happily, oblivious to the sarcasm.

Annabeth laughed. "Well, Argus is waiting for us. Speed it up a bit Percy."

"Yeah okay," I said, rolling my eyes.

I finished stuffing my pj's into my bag and slung it on my shoulder. I turned to Annabeth.

"See? Done. Let's go."

Tyson, Annabeth and I exited the cabin, were joined by Nathan and Amelia and jogged down to Argus, who was leaning against the van. It was before a foreboding quest but we talked and chatted like nothing was wrong. Tyson had gotten better at not puking in the car/van, but he still looked a little queasy, and I kept glancing at him to check he wasn't going to empty his stomach on me.

We arrived at the subway in LA and Argus dropped us off. I had never actually heard the guy talk- rumour has it that he has an eye on his tongue so he doesn't speak. Which _does_ make sense, I wouldn't want to flash an eye on my tongue at people every time I talk to them. Anyway, after a while, we found ourselves being ferried across the River Styx by Charon. I'd been here a couple of times before but it still gave me the creeps, especially with all the souls of the dead moaning and groaning. The only difference was that this time, Charon was waiting for us so I was relieved (I'd brought a few drachmas in case I had to persuade him). Plus, I noticed that he had on a new teal pinstripe suit.

"So… Hades given you a pay rise yet?" I asked tentatively.

Charon snorted, though I wondered how, considering he had nothing inside him. His paddling became a little indignant and the bones of his skeletal arm clacked together. Tyson winced.

"Hardly," he replied shortly.

That was the end of our conversation.

He dropped us off in front of the gates and we clambered out of the boat. Amelia and Nathan looked a little nauseated, and I had forgotten that it was their first time in the Underworld.

"You guys okay?" I asked them.

Amelia Burns nodded, though her face was pale. "It's a little creepy but I don't think I'd like to be visiting here too often."

"I'll say," agreed Nathan.

"Can't blame you," said Annabeth, shuddering.

Whether it was her voice he heard or because he smelled her, Cerberus, the three headed dog came bounding out from the shadows, barking at the top of his lungs. Amelia and Nathan cried out in terror and backed away, drawing their swords. Cerberus nosed a red ball slick with slime towards a surprised Annabeth and woofed for approval. He greeted her with a wet slobbery kiss. Now when somebody else, even a disgusting, mega sized three headed dog… I mean _especially_ a disgusting, mega sized three headed dog kisses my girl, I get angry.

"Annabeth, get back right now," I told her a little vehemently.

She turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

Then I got a hold of myself and said, "I mean… this isn't the time. Tell him to go away so we can meet Hades quickly and get out of here."

Cerberus growled dangerously at me, all three heads of him.

With gentle words and lots of patting, Annabeth finally got rid of him and we continued forward. On the way, we met some of our lost friends. Beckendorf and Silena were happy in Elysium, along with Michael Lee, Lee Fletcher, Ethan Nakamura (yes him too), Castor and many other campers who had died in the fight against Kronos. I was happy to see them, and glad to see Beckendorf and Silena reunited. On the other hand, we couldn't see Luke.

"Where's Luke?" I asked Beckendorf.

He shook his head. "That guy is amazing, he's trying three times for the Isle of the Blest."

I nodded. Before Luke died, he'd told us about him doing just that. I glanced back at Annabeth. She no longer seemed to show any sign of defensiveness or sadness every time she heard Luke's name, but habitually I checked if she did. She didn't. Instead, she nodded as well, smiling.

"That's Luke, always going for gold."

"Are you guys talking about Luke Castellan? The dude whose body was controlled by Kronos?" asked Nathan. Then he blushed, self conscious, as we turned to look at him.

Tyson nodded gravely. "Yes. Traitor who turned good in the end."

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Yeah, well, he was a hero in the end and that's what matters isn't it?" said Amelia.

"Of course," I said quickly. "Okay, let's move on."

Reluctantly we said our goodbyes to our dead friends and moved on.

Skeletal soldiers in tattered US army desert combat fatigues barred our way in front of the doors to Hades. Once they recognized us they let us into the palace. The five of us walked into the palace garden. I felt a sense of déjà vu, though this time I hadn't been dropped from a couple metres above by a certain fury. Seated on his skeletal throne was my least favourite God, Hades. His lips curled in distaste when he saw me, which turned into a smirk when he saw our new companions Nathan and Amelia. Hades snorted.

"Right, let's get down to business. Jackson, I didn't call you over here to exchange pleasantries."

_Me neither, _I wanted to say but I kept quiet.

He got up from his throne and paced around. The five of us watched us, puzzled. Finally, after a while, he looked up at me, his coal black eyes fixing me to the spot.

"This so called _global warming_" he waved his hand derisively as he said the term, "is affecting my kingdom. Maybe I'm the God of the dead, but even my kingdom is alive. I maintain it by the very essence of my existence. The ceiling and walls begin to crumble as it is also part of the earth, though it is very deep down in the earth." His nostrils were flaring now- I could tell he didn't want my help, but he didn't have much choice because of the prophecy. I hid a smirk. He breathed out.

"I require your help, Percy Jackson. You must ask Sisyphus for direction. That is all."

"Um… you brought me here to tell me that you're kingdom is being affected by global warming?" I asked.

Hades' mouth twitched. "Yes. Do you have a problem with that Percy Jackson?"

"Well…"

"I needed you to know how serious this quest is. Do you understand that?" Oh, so he was worried now.

Annabeth and Tyson assumed grave expressions. Nathan and Amelia just looked pale- well, meeting the lord of the dead for the first time wasn't exactly pleasant.

"So where is this… uh, Sisyphus?" I asked.

There was an evil glint in the frigid eyes of Hades. "Tartarus."

"Oh, right."

I fought down a smirk. Hades noticed and his eyebrows went v-shaped.

"Now scoot! All of you!"

We hurried out of his palace and were met by Persephone. Now, last time, she had let me be locked in one of Hades' cells so I wasn't exactly glad to see her.

"Um, excuse me."

She sensed the annoyance in my voice and sighed dramatically.

"Come with me, I'll take you to Sisyphus."

We all looked at her. She smiled, knowing she had caught our attention.

I stared at her.

"I'm his supervisor, duh," she explained exasperatedly.

"Oh."

And with that, she transported us through the air so fast I couldn't even see anything properly. With a jolt, we stopped, back on our feet. I shook my head to clear it and gazed around me. It was damp, cold and dark. In front of us loomed a huge hill- I don't even think it's classified as a hill anymore- but it was a hill alright.

"Whoa," muttered Nathan behind us.

"Big hill," agreed Tyson.

"So…" started Annabeth.

But she never got around to saying what she wanted to, because just then a distant rumble was heard, shaking the ground beneath us. We all jumped, startled. Then the rumbling got louder and louder and I looked up. Up the hill I could make out a faint outline of a human figure.

"Argh!!! Not _AGAAAAAIN!!!_"

Then Persephone rolled her eyes and a stone wall materialized out of nowhere in front of us. Our eyes literally bugged out of our sockets as a mega sized boulder rumbled and rolled crazily towards us. We all jumped out of the way and the boulder collided with the stone wall. The impact of the collision echoed around us, rebounding of the black walls of Tartarus.

An old, shrewd looking man with wild grey hair and tattered clothes sprinted towards us, sweating like a stallion. Amelia and Nathan wrinkled her nose. Tyson waved a big hand to ward off the smell.

The man I guessed was Sisyphus.

"Another visitor?" he asked Persephone.

The goddess just eyed him with distaste. "This is Percy Jackson and his friends. Hades asked them to ask you for direction." Then she went back to analysing her perfect fingernails.

Sisyphus noticed me staring and fixed me with beady eyes.

"What are you looking at boy?" he demanded.

"Um, nice clothes," I said stupidly.

He ignored my answer and glared at me. "So old sallow face asked you to come here did he? Well, I'm not going to lie: you're going to have to work for it."

Then face broke into a mischievous grin. "And I have just the thing for you, little Achilles."

***************

I braced myself and took a step forward. I mean, I've held up the sky before- a boulder should be no problem. Tyson, Amelia and Nathan chewed their nails. Annabeth looked worried. Did I tell you she's cute when she's worried?

Anyway, the four tried to convince Sisyphus to let them all do it with me but he just shook his head, grinning toothily.

"He's gotta feel the pain like I do."

I took a deep breath and placed my palms on the boulder. I pushed. Nothing happened. Ooookaaaaay.

I pushed again and it took some agonizing pushes before it actually moved. I pushed and pushed and pushed. By the time I was a twentieth of the way up the hill, I was sweating like crazy. Even with my super invincible strength a punishment in Tartarus did _not_ make any task easy. Oh great.

I pushed with all my willpower and physical strength. With each step my muscles burned like mad and sweat broke out all over my forehead, trickling down like water from a tap. A million years later I rolled it up about eighty percent of the way. At the base of the hill, Amelia, Nathan, Tyson and Annabeth shouted words of encouragement and I let out a groan. Then I finished rolling it up. I panted heavily, sweat dripping every second and I leaned against the boulder, revelling in my triumph.

"Phew."  
No sooner had I said that, the boulder slipped out of my grasp and rolled down at goodness knows what speed.

"What- move away!" I warned my team. They jumped out of the way just in time and the boulder hit the wall again. I sprinted down, furious.

I grabbed the front of Sisyphus' shirt. He rolled his eyes and cackled.

"Your efforts weren't wasted silly boy. I'll tell you where to go."

"Huh?" I asked in confusion. Annabeth grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

"Percy, the task was meant to be like that. It's the Sisyphean task- the pointless task," she whispered.

I vaguely remembered us learning about this. The guy was meant to be punished for betraying Zeus' secrets and cheating death or something like that.

"Oh," I managed.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. "Pay attention to the myths, will you?"

"Yes boy, pay attention to the myths," Sisyphus said in his annoying voice. "I'm only going to say this once: you must go to Arcas."

"Arcas?" I asked.

"Yes, Arcas," he growled.

"I thought you were only going to say it once."

Sisyphus glowered at me.

"Okay… so where is this Arcas?" I asked.

"He usually visits the fields of Asphodel."

Then without another word, Sisyphus began rolling the boulder uphill again.

I turned to Annabeth. "So who is Arcas?"

Annabeth tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. "Arcas is the son of Zeus and Callisto. Percy, I've been thinking- and I've discussed it with Chiron too- and I'm almost positive that the 'nest' is in Arcadia."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. You mean Arcadia, as in, the wild paradise?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

The boulder slammed into the wall again. As we all rose with Persephone to exit Tartarus, I heard Sisyphus shout: "Remember Percy Jackson! Everything is pointless!"

Then he cackled manically and we were out of there.


End file.
